2005 American League Division Series

The 2005 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 2005 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 4, and ended on Monday, October 10, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. They were:

The higher seed (#1 is the highest) had the home field advantage.

NOTE: The Yankees were designated the Eastern Division champions due to winning the season series 10–9 against the Red Sox. The Angels received home field advantage rather than the Yankees due to their winning the season series 6–4 against New York.

2005 was the first year since 2001 that the Minnesota Twins had not participated in the ALDS. Other than the White Sox' victory in the AL Central, the participants were identical to those of the previous year.

2014 American League Division Series

The 2014 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2014 American League Championship Series. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Baltimore Orioles, and Detroit Tigers (divisional winners, seeded 1–3 based on regular season record) as well as the Wild Card game winning Kansas City Royals played in the two series. TBS carried all the games.

These matchups were:

This was the first postseason played under the current divisional alignment, going back to 1995, in which neither the Boston Red Sox nor the New York Yankees competed in an ALDS. It was also the Royals' first appearance in the current version of the ALDS, as their last previous postseason appearance had come in 1985, prior to its conception (although the team had played in one of the 1981 ALDS necessitated by that year's player strike and the resulting split season). It was also the Orioles' first ALDS win since 1997.

1997 American League Division Series

The 1997 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 1997 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, September 30, and ended on Monday, October 6, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were:

The higher seed (in parentheses) had the home field advantage, which was not tied to playing record but was predetermined—a highly unpopular arrangement which was discontinued after the conclusion of the 1997 playoffs. Also, the team with home field advantage was required to play the first two games on the road, with potentially the last three at home, in order to reduce travel. The Orioles played the Mariners, rather than the wild card Yankees, because the Orioles and Yankees are in the same division. Had the 1997 ALDS been played under the post-1997 arrangement, then Baltimore (1) would have faced off against Cleveland (3) and New York (4) would have faced off against Seattle (2).